Baseball is a sport that is enjoyed by people worldwide. It is also a game that awards its best players with valuable scholarships and big time professional contracts. The competition for these well compensated positions is fierce. This is why if you are taking the sport seriously and looking to make it to the next level you must participate in a well designed workout plan.
Periodization
Baseball can be a long season that is why it is important for baseball players to periodize their workout plans. Periodization is the cycling of your workout throughout the year to allow for peak performance during specific times such as during the playoffs or an important showcase. Properly periodized workout plans should include intense workouts during the off-season and pre-season with less taxing workouts during the in season and specifically during times of peak performance.
Strength
You should include strength training in your workout plans. Strength training cannot only help you swing a bigger bat and hold your ground blocking the plate it is also helps your joints withstand the grind of the game. This is particularly true for the shoulder joint and the rotator cuff muscles that support it. Examples of strength training exercises for the rotator cuff are scaption and internal and external rotations. The hip and knee joints also experience a great deal of punishment and exercises, such as squats, lunges and hamstring curls, help to maintain the muscles supporting these joints.
Power
Baseball players must be powerful and explosive at the plate, on the mound or in the field. That is why it is important for you to develop not only strength but also power. One way for you to add power development to your workouts is to include Olympic lifts such as the hang clean, plyometrics such as squat jumps, bounding and medicine ball drills.
Speed and Agility
Baseball players must be quick as they run the base paths and chase down fly balls as well as agile when they snag line drives and block wild pitches. That is why it is important for you to include speed and agility training in your baseball workouts. Speed exercises such as skipping, and the wall drill series which simulates a run while you are leaning against a wall, help you to develop proper speed mechanics. Agility exercises such as lateral jumps, crossover wall drills, and cone drills such as the star drill or circle drill help to develop quick feet in many planes of motion.
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